Does anyone else ever feel like you are all alone and wasting your time trying to live a godly life? Of course, as Christians, we aren't supposed to admit to feeling like that, so it's not talked about much. I was just having a blah day the other day. You know the kind, school makes you want to tear your hair out, you've been fighting a cold for three days and are sure your nose is about to drip off of your face, your room is trashed out because you haven't felt like cleaning (or at least that's what you tell your mother...), your casserole turned out nasty, and there is a kitchen full of dishes awaiting you... You wonder if anyone even really cares how you do and you really just want to quit. That night in my Bible reading, I was reading in Isaiah, and came across this verse: "Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain: yet surely my judgement is with the Lord, and my work with my God." Is. 49:4 Wow! Talk about right when I needed it! It wouldn't matter if I was the only one trying to serve the Lord, God is the one going to judge me and my actions. No matter what anyone else thinks or says about me, if I am trying to do His will, He will give me strength to keep working for Him. So many times, it seems like there are no obvious results for our efforts. We get burnt out and discouraged, thinking we have "spent our strength for naught". We have to remember that we are working for God, not results. Remember Jeremiah? God told him at the beginning of his ministry that he would never have any converts and the people would never listen to him. How depressing is that! But Jeremiah worked faithfully for many years, working only for God's approval, not man's. The latter part of the next verse in Isaiah 49 says, "though Israel (Or America, my church, or my neighbor) be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength." All that really matters is that we do our part. God will take care of the results.    posted by Rachel

                                                                     Oh, how true...

So this is Rachel...

And this is probably what Rachel's kid will look like...

So...We FINALLY made a blog! Here's a picture from when the Tates came to our house. This was our Mother Daughter Tea. Fun!